This article lists political parties in Romania. Romania has a democratic multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which a political party does not often have the chance of gaining parliamentary majority alone, and, thus, parties must work with each other to form coalition governments. The current system was established following the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the adoption of a new constitution in 1991; prior to these events, Romania was a single-party state under the rulership of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR).
Since the early 1990s, Romanian politics saw a gradual decrease in the number of political parties entering the Parliament and a relative consolidation of existing ones along ideological lines. Major political parties can be roughly grouped into three main "families", more specifically liberal, social democratic, or conservative.[1] Extremist groups have a relatively low political profile in Romania, despite a surge in popularity of far-right and Eurosceptic political parties across many European Union (EU) countries during the 2010s.[2]
Party switching (Romanian: traseism politic) remains a very concerning and significant issue, however, as does widespread corruption, leading to an overall low level of public trust in political parties.[citation needed] In December 2014 the level of trust stood at 12%.[3] To counter this perception, the two largest parties as of 2015 (namely the Social Democrats and the National Liberals) have allegedly initiated a series of internal reforms to strengthen their integrity criteria and impose disciplinary sanctions on party members investigated or convicted on corruption charges.[4][5][6]
Legal framework
Article 40 of the Constitution of Romania states that citizens can freely associate into political parties, with the exception of judges, military, and police personnel as well as other civil servants which are apolitical by law.[7] The same article bans political parties which campaign against political pluralism, the rule of law, and Romania's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Romania's party system is regulated by Law no. 14/2003 on political parties; the law initially mandated a list of 25,000 supporters, residing in at least 18 counties and the Municipality of Bucharest, for a political party to be formally registered.
Nevertheless, in February 2015, the unregistered Pirate Party of Romania (Romanian: Partidul Pirat din România) filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court, arguing that the list requirement is a violation of the constitutional provisions on freedom of association. The Court subsequently struck down the requirement as unconstitutional, and on 6 May 2015, the Romanian Parliament approved a modified version of the law, which allows the formation of a political party with 3 signatures.[8][9]
Parties represented in Parliament
The current political parties with parliamentary representation, in the order of the total number of representatives they hold as of July 2024[update] in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, are the following ones:
In addition, ethnic minority organizations are granted each seat in the Chamber of Deputies if: (1) are the sole official representative organization of the minority; (2) they participate in the legislative election and do not pass the 5% threshold but obtain at least 10% of the number of votes calculated to correspond to electing one deputy. These seats are added to the number of seats put up for election. As of 2021, there are eighteen such seats. The Hungarian minority organization, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) has always passed the 5% threshold for both houses of the Romanian Parliament, and has been treated as a regular political party (and acting like one as well).
Parties represented in the Senate
Parties only represented in the European Parliament
Aside from the political parties represented in the Romanian Parliament, the following political parties only have representation in the European Parliament:
Minor parties
Ethnic minority organizations
Parties with elected representation at local and county level
The following are political parties which ran by themselves at the 2020 local elections and won elected representation at local and county level (does not include seats won on alliance tickets):[20]
The following parties have won seats in the 2020 local elections only as part of electoral alliances:
Other parties
Defunct parties
Parties active 1859–1918
Parties active 1918−1947
The following parties were all active in Romania in the interwar period and, in some cases, through and after World War II.
Dates of founding and dissolution are given, where known. Failing that, the earliest and latest dates known for activities are given.
This period saw the proliferation of numerous extremist parties inspired by fascism, socialism and Communism. The latter were effectively banned in 1924 by the so-called Mârzescu law.[23] A succession of coups drastically altered the political landscape as Romania went through a single-party dictatorship under the National Renaissance Front (1938–1940), then a military dictatorship without political parties (1940–1944), then briefly returning to multiparty democracy before finally becoming a people's republic (1944–1947).
Communist-era parties (1947–1989)
Although distinct parties in the communist era were not politically relevant, the following were the officially recognized political forces:
Other parties were allowed to exist, with unclear status, until mid 1948.[55]
Post−1989 parties
See also
Notes
- ^ "The Ideological Institutionalization of the Romanian Party System". Retrieved 17 December 2014.
- ^ "The Extreme Right in Contemporary Romania" (PDF). Retrieved 17 December 2014.
- ^ "Crește încrederea în Președinție și Armata, scade în Biserica și presa - sondaj INSCOP". Retrieved 17 December 2014.
- ^ "PSD și PNL se întrec în demonstrații de reformă internă, să-i excludă pe membrii corupți". Retrieved 22 May 2015.
- ^ "Modificare statut PSD: Membrii condamnați în primă instanță pentru corupție, suspendați din partid". 17 March 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
- ^ "PNL a definitivat modificările la Statut, în privința criteriilor de integritate". Retrieved 22 May 2015.
- ^ "ARTICLE 40". Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ^ "Partidul Pirat din România schimbă legea partidelor politice la CCR: nu mai e nevoie de minimum 25.000 de membri fondatori". Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ "Camera Deputaților a adoptat trei legi electorale: legea finanțarii partidelor reexaminata, legea partidelor politice și legea alegerilor locale". Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ As National Salvation Front (FSN)
- ^ As Social Democratic Party (PSD)
- ^ As the historical National Liberal Party (PNL)
- ^ Re-founded in the wake of the 1989 Romanian Revolution
- ^ "National Liberal Party (PNL)". Retrieved 4 August 2016.
- ^ "Andrei Caramitru, amendat cu 5.000 de lei după ce a comparat BOR cu ISIS. "O sectă demonică"; stirileprotv.ro".
- ^ "Răsturnare de situație în Parlament! 31 de deputați USR PLUS nu au vrut să finanțeze schitul de la Athos; capital.ro".
- ^ "Primarul USR al Brașovului declară război Bisericii Ortodoxe Române: REFUZĂ ca la Poiana Brașov să fie ridicată o mănăstire". Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ Ziarul Financiar (6 December 2020). "Cine este AUR, partidul venit de nicăieri care ar putea intra în Parlament. Ce spunea George Simion, fondatorul partidului, în urmă cu câteva zile: Noi suntem legaţi de micul producător, de ţăranul român. Prima lege pe care am da-o ar fi protejarea capitalului român pentru agricultori". Ziarul Financiar (in Romanian). Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ Tomasz Dąborowski (1 November 2017). "Prospects for the centre-left government in Romania". Centre for Eastern Studies. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ "Rezultate finale 27 Septembrie 2020". BEC, Biroul Electoral Central (in Romanian). Retrieved 21 December 2016.
- ^ a b Ornea
- ^ Niculae, et al., p. 39
- ^ "Mârzescu Law". Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ a b Veiga, p.215
- ^ Niculae et al., p.12
- ^ "How the Bolshevik-Leninist Group of Romania was Founded" (with introduction), at the Marxists Internet Archive; retrieved 19 July 2007
- ^ Gruber, Cap. V
- ^ Niculae et al., p.15
- ^ Veiga, p.228-230
- ^ Niculae et al., p.14
- ^ Frunză, p.299; Niculae et al., p.16, 45; Videnie, p.46
- ^ "Germanii", on Divers.ro Archived 2007-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Frunză, p.282
- ^ a b Ștefan
- ^ "Evreii", on Divers.ro Archived 2006-08-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Niculae et al., p.9
- ^ Mihailov
- ^ Tineretul Liberal Gorj Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine; Marian Ștefănescu, Jean Th. Florescu și misiunea sa la Madrid Archived 2007-01-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Maghiarii", on Divers.ro Archived 2006-01-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Otu
- ^ Veiga, p.215, 224
- ^ Veiga, p.45-49
- ^ Veiga, p.214
- ^ Veiga, p.163
- ^ Frunză, p.118-119, 299; Niculae et al., p.16; Videnie, p.46
- ^ Veiga, p.179
- ^ Veiga, p.133, 163, 254, 255
- ^ Niculae et al., p.14, 15
- ^ Niculae et al., p.14-15
- ^ Niculae et al., p.15; Veiga, p.215
- ^ 110 ani de social-democrație, p. 6, 24
- ^ Frunză, p.116, 125, 187
- ^ Frunză, p.117; Marin, "II. Viața și opera lui G. Călinescu sub comunism"
- ^ 110 ani de social-democrație, p.5, 21; Frunză, p.203-204, 214
- ^ Frunză, p.357
References
- (in Romanian) 110 ani de social-democrație în România ("110 Years of Social Democracy in Romania"), Social Democratic Party, Ovidiu Șincai Social Democratic Institute, Bucharest, July 9, 2003
- Ion Constantinescu, "Dr. N. Lupu: «Dacă și d-ta ai fi fost bătut...»" ("Dr. N. Lupu: «If You Yourself Had Been Beaten...»"), in Magazin Istoric, August 1971
- Victor Frunză, Istoria stalinismului în România ("History of Stalinism in Romania"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990
- (in Romanian) Victoria Gabriela Gruber, Summary of Partidul Național Liberal (Gheorghe Brătianu) (PDF file)
- (in Romanian) Gabriel Marin, "Între culpabilitate și mit: George Călinescu - Un istoric literar român în timpul regimului comunist" ("In Between Guilt and Myth: George Călinescu - A Romanian Literary Historian during the Communist Regime"), in Erasmus, 1997
- (in Romanian) Paula Mihailov, "Dubla criză a 'României profunde'" ("The Double Crisis of 'Profound Romania'"), in Jurnalul Național, July 12, 2005
- Vasile Niculae, Ion Ilincioiu, Stelian Neagoe, Doctrina țărănistă în România. Antologie de texte ("Peasant Doctrine in Romania. Collected Texts"), Editura Noua Alternativă, Social Theory Institute of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, 1994
- Z. Ornea, Introduction and chronological table to George Panu, Amintiri de la "Junimea" din Iași ("Recollections from the Iași Junimea"), Ed. Minerva, Bucharest, 1998
- (in Romanian) Petre Otu, "1946-1947. Se pregătește guvernul Argetoianu!" ("1946-1948. An Argetoianu Government Is Under Preparation!"), in Magazin Istoric, May 2000
- Ioan Scurtu, Viața Politică din România 1918–1914 ("Political Life in Romania 1918–1914"), Editura Albatros, Bucharest, 1982
- M. Ștefan, "În umbra Cortinei de Fier" ("In the Shadow of the Iron Curtain"), in Magazin Istoric, November 1995
- Francisco Veiga, Istoria Gărzii de Fier, 1919-1941: Mistica ultranaționalismului ("History of the Iron Guard, 1919-1941: The Mystique of Ultra-Nationalism"), Humanitas, Bucharest, 1993
- Nicolae Videnie, "«Alegerile» din martie 1948: epilogul listelor electorale alternative. Obsesia unanimității — primii pași" ("The «Elections» of March 1948: an Epilogue to Alternative Electoral Lists. Unanimity Obsession — The First Steps Taken"), in Dosarele Istoriei, 11/V, 2000
External links
- "Leftist parties in Romania" at broadleft.org
- (in Romanian) Ioan Scurtu, Theodora Stănescu-Stanciu, Georgiana Margareta Scurtu, Istoria românilor între anii 1918-1940: IV. Partidele politice în primul deceniu interbelic ("Political programs of major parties in interwar Romania")